Pursuant to Article V para. 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 39 para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, at a session held from 6 to 9 September 2011 the Commission adopted a

D E C I S I O N

I

The historic site of Komotin Castle, Jajce Municipality, hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument consists of the remains of the walls of the castle.

The provisions relating to protection measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH nos. 2/02, 27/02, 6/04 and 51/07) shall apply to the National Monument.

II

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary for the protection, conservation and presentation of the National Monument.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with basic details of the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.

III

To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument on the area defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated:

-archaeological works, conservation works, structural repairs and restoration, and works designed for the presentation of the monument are permitted with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

-the ramparts, the walls of the towers and the remaining areas shall be cleared of vegetation posing a threat to the structure of the monument;

-archaeological investigations shall be conducted;

-structural repairs to the towers and ramparts shall be carried out where there are cracks and the risk of collapse;

-during structural repair, conservation and restoration works, original materials and binders shall be used wherever possible;

-existing stone blocks shall be used for the remedial works;

-missing areas of dressed stone should be replaced using the same materials as those originally used;

-the finish of the repaired stretches of the walls should match that of the rest of the wall;

-the wall should be provided with a crown of natural materials (stone capping or a topping of hydraulic mortar);

-major cracks should be filled with a compound of small pieces of stone and hydraulic lime mortar;

-self-sown vegetation should be removed physically; the use of biocides and other chemical substances is not recommended on account of the proximity of a water line;

-a programme for the presentation of the National Monument shall be drawn up and implemented;

-the site of the National Monument shall be cleared, shall be open and accessible to the public, and may be used for educational and cultural purposes;

-the dumping of waste of any kind is prohibited.

IV

All movable artefacts found during the course of the archaeological survey shall be deposited in the nearest museum able to provide the necessary personnel, material and technical conditions or in the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, processed, and suitably presented.

All movable and immovable archaeological material found during the course of the archaeological investigations shall be professionally processed.

Upon completion of the archaeological works the archaeologist leading the investigations shall submit a report to the Commission and to the institution that conducted the investigations.

The archaeologist leading the investigations must have access to all the movable and immovable archaeological material found during the course of the investigations and until his/her report is completed, for a period not exceeding three years.

All immovable finds shall be conserved in situ as the archaeological investigations proceed, and the movable archaeological material shall be conserved and placed for safe keeping in a suitable storage facility.

Upon receipt of a report on the investigations conducted, the Commission shall identify which movable artefacts shall be subject to protection measures to be determined by the Commission.

The removal of the movable artefacts referred to in para. 1 above from Bosnia and Herzegovina is prohibited.

By way of exception to the provisions of paragraph 7 of this Clause, if the leader of the investigations determines that a given artefact must be processed abroad, and provides evidence to that effect to the Commission, the Commission may permit the temporary removal of the artefact from the country subject to detailed conditions for its export, treatment while out of the country and return to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

V

All executive and area development planning acts are hereby revoked to the extent that they are not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision.

VI

Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation thereof.

VII

The Government of the Federation, the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federation heritage protection authority, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to VI of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

VIII

The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission (http://www.kons.gov.ba)

IX

Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.

X

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Gazette of BiH.

This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Martin Cherry, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, and Ljiljana Ševo.

No. 05.1-2.3-77/11-20

6 September 2011

Sarajevo

Chair of the Commission

Ljiljana Ševo

E l u c i d a t i o n

I – INTRODUCTION

Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovinaand property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette ofBiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.

On 4 February 2003 JajceMunicipality submitted a proposal/petition to designate the mediaeval castle of Komotin, JajceMunicipality, as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V para. 4 of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

Statement of significance

KomotinCastle is in the village of Cvitovići, northeast of Jajce, on high ground above Komotin brook. It is in the župa (county) of Luka, the earliest reference to which dates from the 15th century, when Bosnia’s King Radivoj came into possession of the town by marriage and became known as the lord of Komotin or dominus de Comothyn.

Komotin was not a military fort but a manorial residence or castle, with all the features typical of such properties. Its fort-like nature was the result of its position on high ground and its difficulty of access via paths winding up the steep hillside and over a moat spanned by a wooden drawbridge.

II – PRELIMINARY PROCEDURE

In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:

-Details of the location and of the current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and Land Register entry),

-Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc,

-Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision,

-Letter ref. 05.1-35.2-5/10-8 of 29 March 2010 requesting the views of the owner on the designation as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina of Komotin Castle, JajceMunicipality,

-Letter ref. 05.1-35.2-10/10-39 of 29 March 2010 to the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport, requesting documentation and views on the designation as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina of Komotin Castle, JajceMunicipality,

-The views of the owner had not been received at the time this Decision was adopted.

The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the property are as follows:

1. Details of the property

Location

KomotinCastle is in the village of Cvitovići, on high ground above Komotin brook, about fifteen kilometres northeast of Jajce.

The site may be reached along a narrow road branching off from the main Jajce to Banja Luka road and leading to the villages of Cvitovići, Zdaljevac and Seoci. From there the only access to the castle is on foot, at first through clearings, then along forest paths, and finally along paths winding up the steep hillside.

KomotinCastle is at an altitude of 644 m, at 44°24' 20.27“, 17°19' 01.56’’.

Mediaeval towns in Bosnia, forming economic centres, consisted of settlements around mines – Ostružnica, Fojnica, Deževice, Kreševo (central Bosnia), Srebrenica (Podrinje – the Drina valley) and Olovo (the River Krivaja valley) – though there had been forts and fortified towns in mediaeval Bosnia well before the mid 15th century. Though it is likely that there was mining activity in the Donji Kraji region in the Middle Ages, dating back to Roman times, principally iron-ore mining and trade in ores, as suggested by the fact that there were places engaged in mining and smelting when the Ottomans came to Bosnia, there were no settlements in the area the economies of which were based exclusively on mining. Historical sources reveal that there were forts (castra) in the Stjepanić-Hrvatinić Donji Kraji at the beginning of the 14th century and even earlier; these castles were associated with the increasing wealth of local landowners(1).

Too little is known of the economic development of the regions to the west of the River Vrbas – the counties of Uskoplje and Donji Kraji. The area lacked silver and lead and was of no great importance for passing trade, and details relating to western Bosnia are thus few and far between(2).

On 4 June 1363, the merchants of Dubrovnik were ordered to move towards the coast, and not to enter Bosnian towns with their goods(3). The order was repeated two weeks later, on 18 June. On 4 February 1366, merchants in Dubrovnik who had experienced problems with counterfeit coins decided to lodge a complaint. An emissary, Pripča Utolčić, was to go to the ban (Trvtko) and grandees with their complaint. The state of insecurity was preventing the merchants of Dubrovnik and Venice from coming to Bosnia, where they were at serious risk of kidnap and robbery(4). Donji Krajevi, Usora, Rama and Hum were with Tvrtko, while Vuk held the eastern regions of the country(5).

The Jajce area was in the county of Pliva which features, along with other Croatian counties, in the list given by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the mid 10th century(6). This county, originally known as Pleba, was one of the ten counties in what was then the Croatian state – the others were Livno (Chlebana), Imotski (Emota), Primorje (Parathalassia), Skradin (Sidraga), Knin (Tnena), Cetina (Tzetzena), Pset (Pesenta, Krupa on the Una), Nona and Nin(7).

Pliva county formed part of a wider region known in historical sources as Donji Kraji (Partes inferiores), the earliest reference to which as part of the Bosnian banate dates from 20 July 1244.

In August 1366, Sokol Fort and Pliva county were bestowed on Vuk Hrvatinić in recognition of his wartime heroism in 1363 and his loyalty(8). Much of the mediaeval history of Donji Kraji, together with the earliest reference to the town of Jajce and its development into an urban agglomeration, is associated with the Stjepanić-Hrvatinić family, prominent Croatian-Bosnian feudals. Jajce owes its political fame, and above all its emergence in the first half of the 15th century as the royal capital of Bosnia, to the fact that the patrimony of the Kotromanić dynasty, at first as bans (governors) and later as kings, was in the Donji Kraji area. Jajce later belonged to Luka county, where another two castles with urban settlements developed by the 15th century – Jezero and Komotin(9).

Jelena Mrgić-Radojčić notes that there were about twenty forts in the Donji Kraji area, and that there were counties with a number of urban settlements as well as those with just one, altering the established urban landscape of Donji Kraji(10), the area that lay between the Vrbas, Sana and Sava rivers(11).

Ladislav, who was crowned in Zadar on 5 August 1403, appointed Hrvoje as governor, granting him the title of Herceg of Split and bestowing on him Split and the islands of Brač, Hvar and Korčula. The Herceg, Grand Duke of Bosnia and Lord of Donji Krajevi, assumed his post in Split on 4 November 1403(12).

The earliest reference to Komotin, in Luka county, dates from the 15th century, when it came into the possession of Bosnia’s King Radivoj by marriage, earning him the title of Lord of Komotin or dominus de Comothyn(13).

Luka county features in 1412 in a charter issued by Herceg Hrvoje, one of the witnesses to which was knez Milat Čučić “of Luka.” The only source providing information on the settlements in the county and making it possible to identify its territory is a charter issued by Stjepan Tomašević for his uncle Radivoj Ostojić. The charter is preserved in two chronicles, the Fojnica chronicle and the Chronicle of Fr. Nikola Lašvanin, in which it is listed under the year 1461. The text of the charter(14) reveals that the fortified towns of Jajce, Jezero and Komotin were in Luka county; there is nothing to suggest that Vinac ranked as a fortified town(15). Though the charter does not explicitly say so, the way the settlements are listed reveals that Komotin Castle had its own “kotar,” (16) consisting of the two uplands of Bočac and Crnička gora, the Podmilačje area on both sides of the River Vrbas, and the villages listed immediately after the castle itself – Cvitovići, Zdaljevac and Seoci. These villages are all very close to Komotin, 2 to 4 kilometres(17).

The Herceg was the supreme authority in his own district, and could thus build forts and castles on his lands without the express permission of the ruler. These settlements were not merely military strongholds serving to defend existing and occupy new territory, but were also significant economic centres for their agricultural surroundings. Herceg Hrvoje fortified Jajce, and built the walled town of Prozor and the forts of Brodar and Sused; tradition has it that he also built KomotinCastle and the walled town of Kotor on the Vrbanja. He thus built or fortified six towns and forts, and held sway over about sixteen(18).

Ćiro Truhelka relates that the castle was intact almost to the roof, and that it was not a military fortification but a castle with the usual appurtenances of a landowning overlord, which enhances Komotin’s importance. Little is known about the castle, but it was certainly in existence in the 15th century. There is only one historical reference to it, dating from 1497, when the governor of Bosnia, Alibey, occupied Komotin and installed his own garrison there, even though there was a truce between Hungary and the Porte (the Ottoman Empire). When news of this reached Buda, the king sent emissaries to Istanbul to protest against this act of violence in peacetime(19).

2. Description of the property

KomotinCastle is an example of a mediaeval fortified court, with substantial outer fortifications to protect its occupants from enemy attack.

Komotin was not a military fort but a manorial residence or castle, with all the features typical of such properties.Its fort-like nature was the result of its position on high ground and its difficulty of access via paths winding up the steep hillside and over a moat spanned by a wooden drawbridge(20). The castle stands on high ground, providing extensive views over its very unusual natural surroundings. Its high stone walls, which are about 1.2 to 1.4 m thick, give it the appearance of a mediaeval fort.

In plan, KomotinCastle formed an irregular rectangle, measuring approx. 33.5 x 12.8 and 32.5 x 13.4 m on the outside. It had a small and a large bailey as well as living quarters. All these had irregular rectangular footprints. The small bailey measured approx. 4.7 x 4.4 m, the large bailey approx. 13.1 x 10.4 m, and the living quarters approx. 29.4 x 12.8 m. Investigations of the remains of the walls and interior rooms of castle revealed that it was permanently occupied. Its finely finished outer walls, small windows (approx. 105-80 cm on the inside and 40 cm on the outside) and steeply pitched, shingle-clad roofs gave it rather the appearance of a mediaeval house than a fort(21). The remaining walls survive to a height of about 10 to 11 metres. The high boundary wall of the small bailey protected the castle, and the castle gate could be defended from small windows serving as gun slits, high up on the outer walls.

3. Legal status to date

KomotinCastle was placed under state protection under the terms of the law by Ruling no. 1086/51 of 28 December 1951 of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of NR BiH in Sarajevo.

KomotinCastle was entered in the Register of immovable cultural monuments by Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of NR BiH no. 02-760-3 of 18 April 1972.

The Regional Plan for BiH to 2000 lists Komotin as a Category III monument (castles-burgs by the Vrbas and its tributaries), under serial no. 111.

4. Research and conservation-restoration works

Access to KomotinCastle has been difficult or impossible on account of the precipitous slopes and dense thickets of shrubs. In October 2008 five volunteers from Friedenskreis, a German NGO based in Halle, working with locals and labourers from Šumarija, cleared the access (cutting a path through the nearby woods) and repaired the road leading to Komotin. A footbridge was built over Komotin brook, and signposts were erected(22).

Komotin, Smionica near Jajce, is listed in the Archaeological Lexicon of Bosnia and Herzegovina(23) as a late mediaeval castle (15th century) in the county of Luka; written sources refer to it as belonging to Radivoj Kotromanić.

The findings of an on-site inspection conducted on 2 June 2011 are as follows:

-access to the site is extremely difficult;

-the entire site of the castle and its surroundings is overgrown with trees, shrubs and low-growing plans and scattered here and there with fallen stone;

-some stretches of the ramparts are in very poor condition, on the point of collapse, as a result of neglect.

6.Specific risks

-effects of the elements;

-self-sown vegetation;

-neglect.

III – CONCLUSION

Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH nos. 33/02 and 15/03), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.

1980.Redžić, Husref (ed.)., Prostorni plan Bosne i Hercegovine, Faza „B“ –Valorizacija, Prirodne i kulturno-historijske vrijednosti (Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina, phase B – valorization of natural, cultural and historical assets). Sarajevo: Institute for Architecture and Town and Country Planning of the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo and the Planning Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, 1980.

2008.AA. VV. Jajce Središte i margina povijesti i ljepote (Jajce: at the centre and on the margins of history and beauty). Jajce: Society for the Protection of the Cultural and Natural Values of the Town, 2008.

(14) “To the highly regarded, loyal servant my uncle knez Radivoj for his loyal and true services to the crown of our kingdom; primarily to the Lord, and to our parents, the Lord King Tomaš of good repute, and to me Lord King Stipan... bestowing on him in Luka (Dnoluka) the castle of Komotin, and the nearby upland of Bočac, and the nearby Čurnička upland, and Daljevac to Seoci, Cvitkovići, and Podmilačje villages on both sides of the Vrbas all these villages with their true boundaries and kotars, and in Jajce, and in Jezero his houses, mills, gardens and vineyards.” Jelena Mrgić-Radojčić, Donji Kraji, Krajina srednjovekovne Bosne, 2002, 171.

(20) Husref Redžić, Srednjovjekovni gradovi u Bosni i Hercegovini, Sarajevo: 2009, 131. Professor Redžić’s investigations of KomotinCastle were published in this book. There are very few written sources relating to Komotin, and its inaccessibility made it impossible for the Commission’s staff to survey the ruins. As a result, the descriptions are largely taken from Prof. Redžić’s account.